


This Time

by posingasme



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Meg and her Unicorn, Meg's true name, Megstiel - Freeform, Prompt Fill, Redemption, S11 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 10:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6851476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/posingasme/pseuds/posingasme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meg's Unicorn is determined to set things right, no matter what it takes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zetal (Rodinia)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/gifts), [mellovesall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellovesall/gifts).



> Prompted and inspired by two different readers. Love them both.

This time, he was going to do it right. She deserved that. She deserved…

Castiel sighed. Who was he to say what she deserved? Castiel the Fallen, one of the only angels that ever existed who could not call Heaven his home. Castiel the Broken, the Entangled, the Snarled and Frayed. He was the last angel who should claim any understanding of the way God worked. 

But he believed deep at the core spark of his grace, that a true heart could be redeemed. 

Meg was nothing if not a true heart. She was a whirlwind of war, a ravenous, relentless fighter. But she was loyal. Perhaps she had chosen the wrong side. Perhaps she had chosen the wrong battles. Perhaps she had been merciless in meting out her wrath. But he had come to understand that it was always with a purpose, always to serve her chosen masters. 

She was a survivor, a warrior. Neither of those things was inherently evil. Was Castiel not the same? If she were damned, shouldn't he be the same? And in order to have become a demon, had she not been punished already? She had apprenticed under Alistair, and so had The Righteous Man, the general Castiel still chose to follow into battle after all this time. If Meg were damned, so was Dean, and Castiel refused to believe that. Meg killed without mercy, mowed through enemies in a frenzy of efficiency and ruthlessness to defend herself or her purpose, and hadn't Sam Winchester done the same a hundred times? Meg consorted and conspired with horrors of the night, and who among them could say they hadn't? For that matter, Meg had probably killed more demons than she had worked with in her time. 

And she was so much more. She was a clever, cold warrior, but she was a brilliant strategist. She was a killer without remorse, but she was a hero in her own right. She was unforgiving, vengeful, and yet she recognized that people and times changed, and so must she. She sacrificed others, and yet she sacrificed for others. 

She was his caretaker. 

Castiel closed his eyes and remembered her voice, as she had talked to him through his catatonic vulnerability. He had never been completely unaware of her presence, even in the depths of his own grief and nightmares. She helped him to swim near the surface instead of fall endlessly into the trench of his madness. It had taken the strength of the Leviathan tablet to break him out, but if it hadn't been for Meg, there would have been nothing left of him by then. Meg had been the one light in all his darkness.

So Castiel could never believe Meg was not of the light, not deserving of its warmth. 

And this time? He was doing it right. He would do right by his sweet caretaker, his beautiful warrior, if it was the last thing he did. 

It probably would be. 

“You'll meet my conditions? And...can you really defeat her?”

Lucifer’s shocked sneer was terrifying, and not a little obnoxious. 

“I can,” he assured him. 

Castiel knew the requirements of angel possession well enough. That was a contract between them. Lucifer would meet his conditions. He had to. “Then yes.”

Watching the monster, whom he had been taught to hate his whole life, close his eyes in pure delight in preparation of taking his flesh, gifted him by Jimmy Novak, a hero and loving family man...Castiel's last sensation before being shoved back into his own mind was nausea. 

At least he was playing a part. And at least he had done what he could, for the Winchesters and Claire, for Daphne and the snot rocket girl, and every other human who had shown the slightest compassion and kindness and humor and courage, for every angel who truly tried, for the world…and for his lovely Meg, the thorny rose, the black-eyed light, the hidden treasure he had found, that mythical creature, his noble demon warrior. 

***

“I'm told you were a loyalist. Sucks for you.”

Black eyes flashed in terror, and Meg was on her feet with her blade in her hand. “Angel,” she hissed. 

Lucifer watched her with interest. “Yeah,” he conceded. “But that's not usually said with such a nasty tone of voice.”

Meg stepped back carefully. The Devil watched the way her eyes flicked in every direction, the way she was actually planning her escape. Interesting little creature, this one. No wonder Azazel had chosen her to call his daughter. “Yeah?” she muttered. “Maybe not to your faces.”

He smiled, which this vessel was clearly unused to doing. “If you think I'm the bad guy, just wait till I tell you a cute story about a little brother of mine. The guy once decimated most of Heaven. Killed Raphael, the most pompous of the Firstborns, with a snap of his fingers. Consorted with demons and loosed the Leviathans back into this world, then in the final act, he contributed to the fall of every angel ever, then gave an encore by helping to release the freaking Darkness from her cage.”

“Lucifer?” she guessed. Now her voice was thick with awe, which he might have been flattered by if he had, in fact, been reciting his own resume.

“No! Not…Is Lucifer anybody's kid brother? Seriously. What part of Firstborn doesn't register as not a little brother? No, definitely not Lucifer. He was chillin’ like a villain in a cage. Which this asshat helped put him in again after a daring escape.”

The demon took a breath. “Are we fighting or are we talking, because honestly I'm starting to think you're crazy as a shithouse rat, and I've never heard of a crazy angel before.”

Lucifer nodded. “Just wait, honey. Crazy train will be here before you know it.” He felt what seemed like a shove coming from inside the vessel. He cleared his throat. “So, I'm kind of obligated to save your soul.” He shrugged sheepishly and gave her a crooked grin. “And by the by, I'm the Devil you've been waiting for.”

This time, the black eyes widened in both awe and terror. “You? You're...You're the one? Lucifer?”

It was always nice to meet a fan. “Enchanté.” He let his grace fill this vessel with power, just for the fun of it. 

Her breath caught in her throat. 

“Yeah, anyhoo, so saving your soul.”

Meg licked her lips and excitement wafted from her. “We're going to Heaven? You're taking us to Paradise?”

Lucifer began to laugh. “Ha! Yeah, no. No. Definitely not. No.” He had to calm his amusement before he could speak again. “No, taking you to Heaven right now would cause you to explode into a trillion tiny painful pieces, and as much as that could be hilarious, I kind of promised a guy I'd actually save your soul, not scatter it into eternal agony.”

She stared at him. “We all believed. You said you would take us to-”

“Did I?” he asked pointedly. “Did I really say that? Or was there some considerable assumption on your part? Huh. Discussion for another time. Got necks to snap and checks to cash. Let's move this along.”

Meg swallowed hard. “I don't have a soul.”

His blue eyes rolled with impatience. “Well, not now,” he sighed. “I need you to guide me to your resting place, give me your true name, and can we hurry a bit?”

***

Castiel watched and listened. Her true name. It was something he had never thought to ask. When he heard it, he smiled from deep inside the space he shared with his malevolent brother. Of course it was beautiful. Of course it was strong and poetic. Perhaps she didn't like poetry, but Castiel always had. 

The process was quick. He admired the effortlessness with which Lucifer was able to venture back in time and snatch her soul from the startled reaper who came for her. He felt the added gift, and was shocked by it. “Thank you, brother,” he sighed into the shared space. 

Lucifer shrugged him off, as if he did not want to be reminded of having just done something a little extra, something he wasn't actually obligated to do. “Shut up,” he snapped. “You said save her, and that's what I'm doing. Shut up. You're a vessel, nothing more.”

In that instant, Castiel was reminded of Gabriel, the way he wielded his callousness and cruelty, and yet hid a bit of compassion beneath.

“Seriously? Gabriel? If you're going to continue to insult me…”

But he never finished the thought. Castiel watched with patience as his brother worked. 

There came a sigh. “Go, little brother,” Lucifer allowed. “That little part of you that wants to be with her. Let it go.” 

And without hesitation, Castiel felt an ounce of his grace rip apart from the rest, to join his demon rose before the spell was complete. There would forever be a hole left behind, but the rest of Castiel remained, steadfast, dutiful, to watch over the Winchesters until his death, likely at the hands of Amara or Lucifer himself. But part of him would live on and love on, a companion to her soul. 

***

The bit of light hovered nearby. She watched it with hope filling her. And that was how she knew it was Castiel, come to join her in her Paradise. Only Castiel could inflict such painful hope upon her. 

The light grew in intensity, then in shape, until he resembled the vessel she knew as him. “Clarence,” she sighed happily. 

“Hello, Jeonjaeng Lilli.”

Her grin spread. “Are you really here? Are we really...here?”

Castiel nodded. “This is your heaven, Lilli. The one created by your sacrifice and redemption. The horrible irony of your inability to enjoy the Paradise your final acts created, because you were a demon, have been…” He smiled. “...worked around. And I'm not an angel, nor a man, so much as I am a tiny shred of the angel who loved you dearly. The part that grieved for you and ached to be at your side. This part of me has no power, no ability beyond the desire and need to love you. My agreement with Lucifer allowed you to go to your Heaven. But he added your memories of me, and made it possible for me to join you in it. I'll never know why, but I'm grateful.”

Tears flowed down her cheeks. “So am I.” 

He nodded quietly, and looked around. “It's a lovely Heaven,” he acknowledged. 

“It's Hwacheon. As I remember it.” She stared out over the mist-laden serenity of the lake, and seemed so at peace that he couldn't interrupt. Then she grinned back at him. “We made it, Clarence! We're in Heaven!” 

A shy laugh bubbled from him. “I hardly know what to do now. I'm not unstable. You're not bleeding. There isn't even any furniture to move around.”

The smile he earned was breathtaking. Meg-but never Meg, only Lilli-was just as wicked in Heaven as she was on earth, and it was delicious. “Then maybe I'll just order a pizza.”

Castiel closed the gap between them, and took her in his arms to indulge in a passionate kiss that left his mighty warrior weak in his strong arms. “I will always obey your order,” he promised. 

The tears sparkled in lovely dark eyes. “Come on, my unicorn. We've got eternity to get to.”


End file.
